For­mer Garda says Katie is in­spi­ra­tion

COL­LEC­TION TWO GIFTS PRE­SENTED TO BOX­ING CHAMP

A RE­TIRED Garda from Wick­low Town was so con­vinced Katie Tay­lor hadn’t re­ceived the ac­claim her achieve­ments de­served he or­gan­ised his own col­lec­tion and pre­sen­ta­tion for the World Cham­pion boxer.

Af­ter Katie con­firmed her dom­i­nance in Women’s Box­ing by re­tain­ing her World crown, keen sports fan Michael O’Sul­li­van de­cided he was go­ing to take some action and show just how ap­pre­cia­tive the peo­ple of Wick­low Town were over her re­mark­able feats in the ring.

‘I went up to Bray to con­grat­u­late her and on the way home I thought about her suc­cess and how she got very lit­tle credit or pub­lic­ity for her bril­liant per­for­mance. I felt she could and should be seen as a role model for other young women and men. The dis­ci­pline needed for her suc­cess is enor­mous and the com­mit­ment and com­pet­i­tive­ness shown by Katie was su­perb.’

So Michael de­cided to hit lo­cal busi­ness around the town to raise funds in or­der to pur­chase a suit­able gift for Katie. Due to his back­ground with the gar­daí, he is fa­mil­iar with most lo­cal le­gal pro­fes­sion prac­ti­tion­ers. As a re­sult they were his first port of call. Mem­bers of the ju­di­ciary were also happy to oblige, as were ex-min­is­ters and priests liv­ing lo­cally.

He then paid vis­its to ac­coun­tants, pub­li­cans and butch­ers in the town un­til enough money was raised to pur­chase two gifts, an in­scribed gold band and a Water­ford glass sculp­ture of a Sea Horse.

On Fri­day Michael paid a visit to Bray Box­ing Club to make the pre­sen­ta­tion to a hum­bled Katie in front of her peers.

‘Young peo­ple are bom­barded with im­ages of how ‘cool’ it is to drink and are be­ing pushed by con­tem­po­raries to do drugs. By hav­ing a role model such as Katie Tay­lor, this dis­as­trous way of life can be set aside.

‘I think her suc­cess as a doubleWorld Cham­pion boxer and in­ter­na­tional soc­cer player will in­spire and en­cour­age other young peo­ple to take up box­ing or some other sport of their choice,’ says Michael.